Paris: City of Light

During a December 2018 Contiki trip to Paris I spent much of my time in Montmartre as it was one area of the city unaffected by protests. Ever since I was a child I dreamed of seeing Paris, so I decided to give the city of light another crack in January of this year. This time I didn't have to contend with yellow vest protests, but with widespread transportation strikes. Even amongst the upheaval, Paris is a beautiful city full of friendly people.

Early in the morning on January 3 I caught the Eurostar from Ashford International to Paris Gare du Nord. Clearing security for the train was significantly faster than for a plane.

From here I was planning to catch further public transport to my hotel, but I was having trouble with my mobile data. I spotted McDonald's across the street, was helped through the door with my luggage, and quickly bought a hot chocolate, so I wouldn't feel guilty about using their WiFi. By the time I sorted out my data issue I figured it would be easier to just catch an Uber to my hotel. Maybe it wasn't easier. After being charged money for an Uber I never saw, and then eventually catching another Uber, I made it to Hotel Residence Foch.

I was welcomed by a kind gentleman who offered to store my bags. I declined as I was exhausted and was waiting for Samantha to join me. Instead I sat in the foyer, where I looked a little worse for wear.

Just before Samantha arrived I was informed my room was ready early. I used the tiny lift to transport my luggage to the room. The room was full of French charm that had been booked at a reasonable early bird price.

This would be our accommodation for the next three days.

We settled in, then set off to explore the city.

A lack of appetite meant I ate a light lunch and just admired the bakery items.

Our hotel was situated right near the Arc de Triomphe.

Both exhausted, we opted for an early night after we sought some advice from the hotel concierge about travelling to the Palace of Versailles the next day. Transportation services were less frequent, but we made it the next day. We hadn't pre-purchased a ticket, so joined what we thought was the right line.

It was the right line, but we need to join another line first, then go back to that original line. After much confusion we bought our tickets and entered the elaborate establishment.

The luxurious digs put any place I've ever called home to shame.

Exquisitely executed art adorns the ceilings.

The entire place screams "money".

*Laughs in rich.*

Cleaning all the fancy furniture would take a lifetime... or a large team.

The well manicured grounds would no doubt be even more gorgeous during warmer weather.

We wandered around before deciding to set off, so we wouldn't miss the metro.

Once back near our hotel we explored the city of light by night.

The Eiffel Tower captured our attention.

The stunning structure sparkled in the moonlight.

The Seine is a beautiful river.

This Paris trip wasn't exactly well planned, aside from the transport to and from Paris, and our accommodation, nothing else had been planned. I did, however, have a few things in mind that I wanted to do, which included a visit to the Louvre. We'd conducted some research and during Friday evenings free entry is permitted to the famous art gallery. We caught an incredibly crowded, slow moving bus over to the Louvre. At one point we laughed with the people we were squashed with because we spotted an elderly man walking faster than the bus.

Once we arrived I was struck by the stark contrast of the modern, glass pyramid juxtaposed with the historic architecture of the Renaissance style former palace.

It didn't take us too long to reach the front of the line.

Then the amazing race was on. We didn't have a whole lot of time and were determined to lay our eyes on the Mona Lisa. We briskly shuffled past other gallery goers, following signs to see the lady with the iconic smile.