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Sunday 16 September 2012

Paris, France

The last time I visited Paris was earlier this Summer. Paris is very warm in early July (when we visited) and good for short weekend breaks to get away from home. It only takes half an hour by euro-tunnel and about 2 hours by euro-star.

There are many exciting things there, for example, the Arc De Triomphe has very fascinating history from the war. If you are claustrophobic, I would advise you not to go to the Arc De Triomphe as you can not access it from ground level; you go through a long winding tunnel underground. There you can buy tickets to visit the top of the structure, by stairs, or if you have a disabled person in your party, by lift. Did you know the Arc De Triomphe costed 9.3 millions of francs, a very large sum of money at that time (1806)?
Photo taken by my iPhone 4S

Another sight is the Louvre. As nearly everyone knows, in this museum stands the Mona Lisa painting by Leonardo Da Vinci. As there are many, many tourists visiting Paris, especially the Louvre, you can expect that there are a lot of tourists surrounding the Mona Lisa. Warning: it is extremely hard to take a picture without the odd nudging and pushing here and there. Under the Louvre is a large, spacious underground mall with an upstairs world cuisine food court offering 13 gourmet stands, including French, Morrocan, Japanese, and Mexican. Not forgetting the 32 shops such as Apple Store, Sephora, Virgin Megastore, and Swarovski. If you are looking for a day with shopping and art, the Louvre is bound to reach your expectations.


My one photo without a man's head in the way.
The Eiffel Tower has incredibly long 2 hour queues, just to line up for the 18, 242 steps and I think you can imagine how the queue was like for the one lift working out of three. Instead of queuing up you can still say "I was there" by just visiting the Eiffel Tower's legs. Yes, it's not as amazing as being all the way up at the top of the Eiffel Tower with a view of the whole of Paris but as someone with a big fear of heights, I enjoyed having  a view of the River Seine. We went on a boat on the River, just like the thames clipper, but in France. It stops off at many different sights which is great to discover more of France.


Blue skies, Eiffel Tower, strange,  silver construction object in the way. 
The River Seine is truly beautiful. You can feel the fresh French air, the scent of a freshly baked pie from a patisserie, and nothing can bother you. On nearly all the bridges in Europe there are "lover's locks". These are locks engraved, or written on by couples who throw their locks in the river to show that their love is everlasting. 


Cheesy, but true.

Overall view:

Hotel: Mariott Rive Gauche Hotel
Rating: 8/10
Other info: In some rooms you can get a view of the Eiffel Tower, which unfortunately we didn't. Service was great, including a restaurant for snacks, and a great breakfast buffet. 

Transport: Paris Metro
Rating: 6/10
Other info: Didn't have the best hygiene, tickets were cheaper than the Tube in London, but they were a tiny bit small and easy to loose.


Restaurant: Any French or Italian restaurants are nice, especially ones which aren't chains.


Language help: 
Hello Bonjour  bon-joor
Do you know where... savez-vous ou savay-vew-oo
Could I have... Je voudrais  Je vew-dray
The bill please L'addition, s'il vows plait la-disyuo see-vou-play
Thank you  Merci  mer-see

Restaurant: Any French or Italian restaurants are nice, especially ones which aren't chains.

Question of the week: By reading this review, what would you rate Paris /10?