France. Paris
Our three-day trip to the capital of France was incredibly eventful. Thanks to the bus tour we chose, we didn't have to worry about accommodation, which saved us a lot of time and energy. Another advantage was the opportunity to choose excursions to places we were interested in, like the Louvre and Versailles, through our tour operator. We didn’t need to worry about buying entrance tickets or figuring out how to get to Versailles, and the excellent guides gave us captivating and comprehensive tours of the main halls of all the museums, saving us precious time. Of course, museums like the Louvre deserve more than the three hours we allotted, and Paris’s museum scene extends far beyond the Louvre. But we had only three days, and we wanted to cram as much of the city and French atmosphere as possible into them, splitting off from our rather large tourist group...
Upon arriving in Paris, we settled into a hotel just 500 meters from the metro, which later greatly simplified our movement around the city. We already had the chance to experience a bit of French life, visiting a supermarket before checking in and stocking up on French wine and famous moldy cheese...
Heading to Île de la Cité, we went to one of Paris’s landmarks – Notre-Dame Cathedral (1345)...
Continuing with the landmarks of the French capital, we headed to the Eiffel Tower...
As we stood in line to get inside, it was already getting dark, and the tower lit up with golden lights...
t took us about an hour and a half to get through all the lines and take two elevators to the top of the most visited and most photographed attraction in the world...
Descending from the tower and approaching the viewing platform, we managed to take just one group photo before a heavy rain forced us into the nearest metro....
The next day, our plan included a visit to the former residence of the French kings. After a brief stroll through the Luxembourg Gardens, we headed to Versailles...
Entering through the golden gates with Louis XIV’s symbolic “Sun King” head immediately shows who initiated the creation of the palace and park ensemble, which many monarchs of that time tried to emulate. Visiting such residences in other European countries, one constantly hears comparisons to the standard, which is always Versailles...
Numerous rooms teeming with the wealth and luxury of those times, of course, caught our attention, but they didn’t particularly impress us...
However, the Hall of Mirrors did impress with its scale and opulence. No wonder it is the most famous interior of the palace... and influenced the creation of similar halls all over Europe...
The most impressive sight for us was the Versailles Park, one of the largest and most significant in Europe. It consists of many terraces that descend as they move away from the palace. Flowerbeds, lawns, fountains, and numerous sculptures represent a continuation of the palace architecture. The fountains are a separate story... It turns out they are turned on only on weekends and holidays, as well as on Tuesdays, and for just an hour before lunch and an hour and a half afterward. At that moment, we didn’t know this, so you can imagine our delight when the fountains did turn on...
After Versailles, the tour bus dropped us off in Paris, near the nearest metro station, from which we went to the largest business district in Europe, the modern business and residential quarter – La Défense...
After visiting the "Parisian Manhattan," we went to the Louvre to stroll around its territory a bit...
Here we are taking a photo, setting up our new ultra-zoom camera on a tripod... It takes its last photo, a gust of wind knocks over the tripod, and the extended lens hits the smooth stone tiles sharply and painfully... We approach the camera, upset, to check the damage. Passersby, seeing our mishap and clearly sympathizing, offer to help... We are grateful but there's nothing to be done, the camera is broken... To maintain the positive vibe of our trip and our good mood from the day, we decide to forget about what happened... We go to the hotel to get our old, trusty first digital camera that we took just in case, and we also decide to grab the French wine and moldy cheese we bought earlier... To offset the negativity associated with the broken camera, we decide to have a romantic evening with wine and cheese by the Eiffel Tower...
And here's the last photo before the camera fell...
Armed with the backup camera, the same tripod, wine, and cheese, we first head to the Arc de Triomphe. By the way, we planned to visit it after today's stroll around the Louvre, but the "accident" changed our plans... We decided not to cancel our planned activities... By the time we arrived, it was already quite dark...
Next, from the Arc de Triomphe, we walked to the Eiffel Tower, where we found a bench, opened the wine, and had a wonderfully romantic time... The Parisian air around the Eiffel Tower was filled with the energy of love... Passing couples seemed to be on the same wavelength as us, exchanging glances and smiling at us... It was very warm and pleasant...
That’s how it sometimes goes; if it weren't for the camera incident, we probably wouldn’t have thought to organize such an evening for ourselves... And we wouldn’t have created a new tradition of having little evening picnics by the major landmarks of Europe...
Our last day in Paris promised to be even more eventful than the previous ones... In the morning, we went to one of the most famous districts of Paris – Montmartre. The first thing we saw after climbing the hill was the Basilica of the Sacred Heart – Sacré-Cœur, built in 1914...
The basilica is located at the highest point in the city (130 m). From here, the observation deck offers a beautiful view of Paris...
Next, we wandered the streets where famous artists, performers, musicians, and creative figures once lived... The area is steeped in creativity and the French spirit...
A monument to writer Marcel Aymé, immortalized as the hero of his story – accountant Léon Dutilleul, who visited his beloved, locked behind all locks by her jealous husband, by passing through walls...
"Moulin de la Galette" – the windmill loved by Renoir, Vincent van Gogh, and Pablo Picasso...
Place du Tertre – the central square and heart of Montmartre. Here lived Pablo Picasso and Maurice Utrillo. Today, artists and caricaturists exhibit their works for sale on the square, but they need a permit from the artists' union, which is quite hard to obtain...
Visiting Paris without seeing the Louvre would be sacrilege for the development of culture on earth... While we are not great admirers of painting and sculpture, the treasury of world masterpieces we saw impressed us greatly...
And how can one not be impressed by statues that are over 2000 years old...
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| The Great Sphinx (1929-1895 BC) |
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| Venus de Milo (130-100 BC) |
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| Winged Victory of Samothrace (190 BC) |
The collection of paintings is mind-blowing, even just for the world-famous names of Renaissance artists... Some of the most famous exhibits in the Louvre...
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| Sandro Botticelli – Madonna and Child (c. 1445-1510) |
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| Domenico Ghirlandaio – An Old Man and His Grandson (c. 1490) |
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| Paolo Uccello – Portraits of Giotto, Uccello, Donatello, and Brunelleschi (c. 1450) |
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| Paolo Veronese – The Wedding at Cana (1562-1563) |
The works of the most legendary figure of the High Renaissance, Leonardo da Vinci, are a particular highlight of the museum...
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| Leonardo da Vinci – La Belle Ferronnière (1490-1496) |
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| Leonardo da Vinci – Saint John the Baptist (1513-1516) |
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| Leonardo da Vinci – The Virgin of the Rocks (1483-1486) |
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| Leonardo da Vinci – The Virgin and Child with St. Anne (1508) |
The portrait of the famous "Mona Lisa," also known as "La Gioconda," or by its full title "Portrait of Lisa Gherardini, wife of Francesco del Giocondo," is probably the most famous painting in the world... In the Louvre, numerous signs lead to the hall with this mega-famous and undoubtedly great painting, displayed in splendid isolation on the central wall under armored and super-protected glass...
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| Leonardo da Vinci – Portrait of Lisa Gherardini, wife of Francesco del Giocondo (1503-1519) |
The halls with more modern paintings were also interesting, though the names of the artists were less familiar to us... Nevertheless, even without being great connoisseurs and fans of visual arts, we were extremely inspired by what we saw...
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| Jean Auguste Dominique Ingres – The Grande Odalisque (1814) |
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| Jacques-Louis David – The Coronation of Napoleon (1807) |
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| Jacques-Louis David – The Intervention of the Sabine Women (1799) |
After a three-hour tour of the grand museum, we felt like we had emerged from an emotional torrent of the past and plunged back into modernity...
Interestingly, the oldest monument in the French capital is the Luxor Obelisk, standing in the center of Place de la Concorde. This relic was gifted to France in the 1830s by the vice-king of Egypt, Muhammad Ali...
Pont Alexandre III, built in 1900, is considered the most elegant bridge in Paris...
The Hôtel des Invalides is one of the first military institutions for the care of war veterans and their families. Construction began in 1670 by order of Louis XIV and it was intended for distinguished army veterans who were war invalids. Today, it still accommodates invalids and also houses several museums and a military necropolis...
We concluded our three-day acquaintance with Paris with a river cruise on the Seine...
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