Paris: Day 1
16 Oct 2011 Leave a Comment
in Europe, France Tags: eiffel tower, l'arc de triomphe, les champs elysees, Paris, place de la concorde
Paris is now one of my favorite cities. I didn’t get to do everything that I wanted, so I will be going back to Paris in the future. I love everything about the city – the sights, the food, the environment, the metro (even if it smells, it’s still very efficient), etc… Maybe I should just move there. Anyways, I was determined to see the sights that I had to memorize in French class in junior high, which I’m still familiar with. [Madame Merchant will be very proud. I even remember the songs that we sung in class.]
While I was there, I stayed at a hotel that was within walking distance to the Louvre & L’Opera. I didn’t realize it was a Best Western hotel until I got there (the reservation site failed to mentioned this fact), but it was still good. The disadvantages were that the room was really small, and it seemed like they placed me in a smoking-room area when I had requested otherwise.
I left Strasbourg on Saturday, July 29th via a TGV trained and arrived in the afternoon in Paris. The train ride was horrendous because of my luggage; the aisles in the train was narrow; and there was no space for luggage. I ended up sitting by the doors, holding on to my luggage. It was a very long two hours train ride.
I didn’t want to do much on Saturday, so I decided to do visit sites that wouldn’t require much efforts. I stopped by the Eiffel Tower and walked around to take pictures.
I wasn’t particularly interested in going up the Eiffel Tower, because the line was way too long and I’m scare of heights. I didn’t spend much time there, perhaps thirty minutes? There’s really not much to see – it is just one fascinating, gigantic tower. But if I had more time and if there were less people, I would have had a picnic there. =)
After walking around a little bit, I left to visit the infamous les Champs Elysees, Pace de la Concorde and L’arc de Triomphe.
{Place de la Concorde}
{Les Champs Elysees & L’Arc de Triomphe}
Because les Champs Elysees is just a long street with lots of luxury brand stores, I just shopped. I didn’t buy anything but I fell in love with a gorgeous coat from Zara. It would have been ridiculous for me to buy the coat – it wasn’t the right season and I didn’t have room in my suitcase; so I didn’t buy it.
I decided not to visit the Arc de Triomphe, because it wasn’t something that I had to see. I was tired and I needed to eat, so I went back to my hotel.
