An exhausting walking tour of almost all of one half of Paris

Suddenly, I was on my last train out of Italy. Deanna and I making our way to Paris for the epic conclusion to our European adventures.

The train left Milano Centrale at four, and Deanna and I had 7 hours of sitting to look forward to. I didn't do anything particularly productive (big surprise) then 7 hours just flew by and we were in Paris! Deanna and I grabbed our bags, got off the train and headed straight in to the Métro and used our substantial experience with subways to figure out the best route to the hostel, up in the 18eme arrondissement. We hopped on the next train north, changed in Châtelet-Les Halles (the largest underground station in the world) and made it to the hostel, a tiny place right outside the Barbés-Rochechouart station. Got checked in, the guy at the desk was incredibly rude (least friendly hostel I've ever stayed in. I was so used to the amazing hospitality offered by hostels everywhere else I went, and this place was the polar opposite), dropped my bags off and then Deanna and I went for a midnight stroll in the neighborhood, which turned out to be the Red Light District. So we saw the Moulin Rouge,

and then hiked up to the Basilique du Sacré-Coeur, on top of the Montmartre hill,

and enjoyed some authentic Parisian street music. We also watched the Eiffel Tower light show from up on the hill (every hour on the hour for five minutes),

but never saw it again that trip (the light show that is). Deanna and I made our way back down the hill and started heading back to the hostel; along the way I got a nutella crêpe that changed my life. I went to bed and slept heavily, then got up around 7. Deanna and I headed out about 8, got breakfast from a bakery in the 7eme arrondissement (just south of the Musée d'Orsay, our first destination). We got to the museum and it was 8:30, about an hour before it opens. There was a short line already forming but we decided to go wander around the Tuileries Garden (the garden in front of the Louvre) to kill some time. It was pretty overcast and a little wet out but the gardens were still impressive. We walked around there for a bit then got a closer look at the Louvre itself. The museum is closed on tuesdays (which it was) but looking at the building was still allowed. I always knew the Louvre was big, but the Louvre is HUGE. It takes time to walk from one wing to the other. And the pyramid in front, designed by I.M. Pei, is a very out of place, very cool looking architectural feature.


We walked back to the Orsay, found a huge line waiting for us, and got in. After we waited about an hour an announcement was made that the museum was closed for the day due to a strike (which we later found out was also over at Versailles) and so we groaned and figured out a plan B: the Musée Rodin, a museum dedicated to the works of Auguste Rodin, the most famous/prolific sculptor since Michelangelo. His famous works include The Thinker

The Gates of Hell

and The Kiss

After we finished perusing the Museum, we headed out in search of that most Parisian of gustatory delights: French Onion Soup (Soupe à l'oignon). We walked up and down a few streets comparing prices and touristyness of different restaurants trying to find the best possible soup on our meager budgets. We eventually chose a restaurant not far from Les Invalides, where Napoleon's Tomb is housed. The soup was fantastic, and we got a beer called Panaché to go along with it.

We enjoyed both slowly to rest our feet and figure out the plan for the rest of the day. So after lunch our next stop was the Champ de Mars + Eiffel Tower:

View down the Champ de Mars

Inside looking out

View from the Trocadero

When I finished gazing at the Tower we made our way up to the Trocadero and saw some pretty atrocious street performances, then walked up to the Arc de Triomphe and the Champs-Élysées. The Arc is in the middle of a huge traffic circle where 12 streets intersect, so we had to take an underground walkway up to it. I was stunned by the hugeness of it; it dwarfs the Arco della Pace in Milan by ten-fold. It was even too big to capture with a camera, but there were some incredible architectural details we saw:

We finished marveling and then walked down the Champs-Élysées itself, looking at all the incredibly expensive things that we absolutely could not afford. We eventually made it to the Place de la Concorde, the square right outside of the Tuileries Gardens, and hopped on the Métro to grab our bags from the hostel and then head out to the hotel. When we got off the train at Barbés-Rochechouart we saw people crowding around on the street taking pictures, and when we got closer the burned out husk of a building and firefighters still sifting through the rubble. While we were out the grocery store next-door to the hostel had caught on fire and been completely gutted.

Burned out husk

Somehow the hostel was perfectly fine and we went in to grab our bags. We headed to the nearest RER station to head out to our new hotel (booking places in Paris was impossible) out in the Parisian 'burbs. Next time, The Louvre!