Paris: The City of Lights

My first visit to Paris was extremely impromptu.  One day I was talking to my friend Theresa about her upcoming trip to Paris, and the next week I was flying there with her.  Needless to say, she did all the planning including where to stay and what to see. 

Naturally, for our first time in the city, we stuck to the main attractions like (but not limited to) the Eiffel Tour, Notre Dame, the Louvre and miraculously, we hardly ever waited in a line, despite not having purchased advanced tickets.  I still don’t know how that worked out except maybe it was due to visiting in October.

KEEP TRAVELING …
rafa nadal roland garros

Roland-Garros: All You Need to Know for the French Open

Buy Tickets Online

Roland-Garros has successfully eliminated scalping tickets at the French Open.  While it is possible to get tickets on third party sites or through a tour group beware that they are legitimate as names are assigned to the ticket during the 15-minute purchasing time slot.

PLAY TENNIS …
moulin rouge at night

Féerie at the Moulin Rouge

My first visit to France several years ago was impromptu.  My dog had just passed away, and my friend was going to France the next week.  I jumped on board.  Needless to say, I had done little research and only knew that I’d like to see the famous sites like Eiffel Tower, Notre Dame, and the Louvre.  With slightly more planning under her belt, Theresa wanted to see Féerie at the Moulin Rouge.  Not knowing exactly what to expect, I was game.

We were seated feet away from the stage and enjoyed a spectacular show.  I liked it so much, that on my second visit to France, I went again.  Those who know me know that doing the same thing twice is very uncommon. 

We had such great seats which the venue selected on our behalf that I couldn’t risk get anything worse.  As such, I splurged for the VIP treatment. 

SEE THE SHOW …
boats in the Versailles garden

From Paris to the Chateau de Versailles

From Paris to the Chateau de Versailles…that took up most of our Sunday.  I’m pleased to say we successfully bought the correct roundtrip train ticket and made it to the correct stop where we exited and found a ticket office to the palace.  The ticket office was out of English brochures, so we received an excellent French brochure about the palace that we didn’t try to read while we waited in the extremely long entrance line. 

The website had warned that mid-day on the weekend was VERY busy, and that was no mistake!  The line snaked half-way through the court yard.  It looked like a customs line at the airport without any barriers defining the next curve.  I was surprised at the orderliness.  We spent an hour or more people watching…some snacked on baguettes from a nearby sandwich shop while others snapped photos.  We picked the Americans out of the crowd…the biggest give away is they wear tennis shoes.

EXPLORE!
moulin rouge

Parlez-Vous Francais? An Adventure in Paris – Part 2

Top Sites to See in Paris

Our second day in Paris was action packed!  We hopped the metro to our first stop, the Louvre, once a medieval fortress, now the world’s largest museum.  We were told the lines would be long to enter, and that we could be here all day. As a result, we arrived early and we hit the highlights, because we had several highlights in Paris to see today. We were going to be hard pressed to see all of them.

EXPLORE!