Paris in a Day

It is impossible to see the city of lights in a day, but you can hit the highlights and promise to return with more time (and cash).  

Our journey to Paris was really a stopover of sorts.  We flew into Paris to make our way to Normandy, Le Havre to be exact, where we would board our cruise of the British Isles.  We had banked on three days in Paris.   Our planning, however, would be circumvented by jet lag and transportation timing to Normandy.  In the end, we have about a day and a half to explore the city.

Our first stop breakfast.  Cafe au lait and pain au chocolat.  Mais oui!   Our flight touched down early in the morning and we were famished.  We headed straight to the hotel (The Pullman Tour Eiffel), checked in and grabbed some breakfast.  

We headed towards the Eiffel Tower.  I had booked advance tickets for the tower before we left.  Here is a very important piece of information for you dear reader.  When the ticket says 13:00 - they mean 13:00.  They don't mean 12:00, 12:30 or even 12:50. Since when are the French known to be sticklers for time?  Well, at the Tour Eiffel they are.  And, believe me we tried to get in earlier.  However, I do not suggest you go to the Tour in the summer without a ticket.  The line to enter snaked around the park, so we were happy to have our ticket in hand.  You can spend about an hour at Tour Eiffel.  The kids loved it.  The views were amazing. 

 Here is the very long queue for tickets to the tower for those who did not pre-purchase.


By 2:30 we were bagged.  He headed to the hotel, grabbed a quick lunch and decided to have a snooze.  Some 15 hours later, we awoke. I cannot believe we slept that long but I was also thankful that we did.  It gave the kids the ability to acclimatize to the time change.  They were good to go after that.  After grabbing an incredible breakfast at the hotel (it really was delicious), we headed to the hop off hop on bus.  You can purchase your tickets on line (using your phone) saving 10 percent.  We didn't have a lot of time so we hoped the circuit would work out for us.  It did.

Our first stop was the Palais Garnier (the Paris Opera House).  Tip 2:  I had purchased advanced Tickets for the Musée d'Orsay.  Unlike the Tour Eiffel, the tickets were not timed and in fact were not even for a particular day.  This was wonderful (more about that later).  However, those tickets entitled us to a discount for the ticket into the Palais.  We did opt for the audio tour.  I am glad we did. The 6 year old had a young person's tour in her ear which held her interest quite nicely.  The Palais is beautiful and of course the highlight is the ceiling of the theatre painted by Marc Chagall.  We had been to Musée National Marc Chagall in Nice just last year.  Other parts of the Palais reminded me of Versailles.  

From the Palais Garnier we headed to the Musée d'Orsay.  We had advance tickets and walked without any delay right into the museum.  I purchased the tickets on-line from the museum's website.  I must say that the Musée d'Orsay is one of my all time favorite art museums.  They have such an abundance of impressionist paintings - Manet, Cézanne, Monet, Renoir, Sisley, Pissarro.  I also love the size of the museum.  Just big enough not  to be overwhelming.  We had a wonderful lunch in the Museum.  There are two cafés and one restaurant there.  We decided upon the Café among the Impressionist Gallery - Café Campana. The room was beautiful with the backside of the large clock as a central focal point is said to be a tribute to Art Nouveau. The menu was small but the food very good. 

Next we walk to the iconic Louvre Museum.  Here is where you really must have an advance purchase ticket.  I had decided to splurge and booked us a guided tour of the museum. I purchased the tickets on-line from the museum's website. The museum is so vast - I doubt one can see all of the museum if one would go everyday for a month.  I wanted to be sure we hit the "highlights' for the girls' sake.  The advantage to the tour was that we had our tickets in advance and bypassed the long queue to get in.  It also enabled us to get up close to the Mona Lisa, the Winged Victory of Samothrace, the Venus de Milo, and other masterpieces.  The guide also gave great insight into these masterpieces as well as the buildings  of the Louvre itself.  


Here is the crowd trying to see the Mona Lisa.  We were able to get right in front of the painting as soon as we entered the room - all because of the guide.



Giulia really wanted to see Notre Dame. We headed there next.  She had studied this famous church for a school project.  She was a wealth of knowledge right down to the gargoyles.  Entry to the Cathedral is free. Generally, the kids were free throughout the day - entry to most museums are free for those under 18 years of age.  

I got some great pictures of the Gargoyles watching over Notre-Dame.  The gargoyles' main purpose is very practical. They allow the rain water which runs down the roofs of the cathedral, to drains off without dripping down the walls damaging them. 

It was now late afternoon and we were all showing signs of wear.  We scurried onto the next Hop Off Hop On bus we found and decided to do the rest of the loop.  So we sat back and toured to the Champs Elysées, the Arc de  Triomphe and the Flame of Liberty - (Place de l'Alma, above the tunnel where Diana and Dodi Fayed were tragically killed).  

We capped of the evening with a lovely boat cruise along the Seine which was just magical as we timed it perfectly to arrive back to witness the lighting of the Tour Eiffel.  A sparkling wonder in the evening.  .