What You’ve Heard Is True (Part 2)
In this second write-up on my trip to France’s wonderful capital city, I’m going to cover a few more of the major attractions that I visited in my short time there. If you’ve yet to read part one, you probably should. It sets the scene.
Visiting Tour Eiffel was the very first thing I did when I arrived in Paris. Well actually, the first thing I did was get lost, and subsequently, rather hot and sweaty. The trouble I had wasn’t with the direction, but with finding the correct platform for the RER train I’d planned on taking. I wanted Line D, but hadn’t banked on there being Lines D1, D2 and so on. I spent around ten minutes descending stairs, going through ticket barriers, going up escalators and being swept away in crowds of people before giving up and opting instead to travel to my hotel on the Paris Métro. Upon arriving at Montparnasse Bienvenue, the metro station nearest my hotel, I decided for reasons unknown not to walk directly to the hotel, but to wander aimlessly for a mile or so before realising things weren’t right and turning back. Only after inspecting my room, flicking through the tv channels, testing the light switches and chugging a bottle of water did I then go to the Tower. To find out what I thought, read part one.
You won’t find many surprises in the list of other places I visited in Paris. All of them are well known attractions and everyone knows what they look like and what to expect from them, but they’re still essential things to see. Tour Montparnasse is the tallest skyscraper in France. It boasts terrific views of the city, rivaling those from Tour Eiffel, mainly because you can see Tour Eiffel from Tour Montparnasse, which you can’t from Tour Eiffel because you’d be standing on it. Sadly (and typically), I visited on a particularly hazy day and I could barely see anything other than what was directly beneath the tower. It was still worth the visit though. I’d never been up a skyscraper before so it was an experience if nothing else. And the lift to the 56th floor is the fastest in Europe, flinging you up in 38 seconds, so that was good. If you like having your ears bleed as you hurtle up a lift shaft to have to squint at a barely visible Eiffel Tower, then Tour Montparnasse is definitely worth a look.
I gave more of my time to Notre-Dame than I thought I would. It’s exterior is grand and beautiful and it’s interior is even more so. Some of the stained glass windows were staggeringly intricate and the colours were incredible. Multi-coloured rays of sunlight shown onto the walls, floor and “beware of pickpockets’ notices. A service was starting as I finished wandering around and I actually found myself sitting down and listening to the words. I didn’t understand what was being said as it was in French and Latin, but I enjoyed the ambience all the same. I’ve never really liked visiting churches and cathedrals, but have visited so many in my life that I suppose it’s natural for me to carry on doing so. Notre-Dame was probably the grandest that I can remember.
In part 3, I visit the Louvre and walk up the underwealming Champs-Élysées to the Arc de Triomphe. To see a slideshow of all my Paris photos, go to Flickr.
