I was granted 3 days and 4 nights in Paris. I thought 3 days was more than enough to tour all over the place. I know I wouldn’t see everything to be seen there, maybe the main places at least. I decided to leave the hidden gems for the next time, like that I’ll have a huge reason to come back.
I arrived late at night at the airport and even though it wasn’t a very long flight I was extremely tired. Luckily I wasn’t jet-lagged as there isn’t any time difference between Alexandria and Paris. Yet setting in the plane for nearly 5 hours, staying in the airport for over an hour and the road to the airport from my house is about an hour and a half. Above all of that, your girl couldn’t contain her excitement for her first time journey outside the borders. Therefore, I arrived at the hotel absolutely dead, ready for a good night sleep.
My first morning.
I’m not a morning persons but I’m totally a coffee person, that note aside. After the wake-up call, I opened my eyes and couldn’t shut them again.
The most beautiful scenery was waiting for me,,,, you don't know since when I've dreamt of this moment . I knew that leaving the curtains opened was rewarding. (No no, I wasn't lazy to close them cause I just was tired!)
Because there was no time to waste, I put on my best, most Parisian appropriate outfit and was ready to leave for my adventure.
You thought I didn't think about breakfast and coffee? Of course I did! In a matter of fact I was too hungry to leave without food as I didn't have anything to eat since the day before. What was a better opportunity to try the hotel dining area! Specially that I could only stay there till the end of that day! And Ooooh boy, I wasn't disappointed.
Lets' not waste our time telling you about the amazing breakfast I had (I've always believed that the breakfast set the tone for the rest of the day)
In the early morning my first stop was of course the Eiffel Tower.
It was beautiful in the real life as it's always been in pictures, that's a lie! It was much more beautiful and breath taking and climbing it was the whole new experience I never knew I needed until I saw Paris from up there.
Let me walk you through that experience a little. Living in a high floor was something I thought would qualify me to not to feel that shiver down my spine when I look from any high place ever again but NO, it felt like flying, going up that clear elevator between that amazing work of architect was something undescribable (which please, get use to this word cause that's one of few words that could describe so many things that happened there). I though that reaching the first platform was the top of the world but boy oh boy the second platform was on a different level,,,
That was an experience on its own but, finding out that there was a restaurant in the tower was a shock. Why didn't I know something like that?
You think because I had my breakfast that I was set for a while?
I hope you don't believe that I don't believe in a second and third breakfast if necessary cause that was exactly what happened AND MAN THAT WAS UNDESCRIBABLE!
To tell you the truth I was full but there is always a room for more, right? Well, I wouldn't let this chance slide away so I decided to at least try a dessert and what better complement to the sweets than a cup of coffee!
After this sweet treat I decided to walked around the the garden a little bit and went a little far in my walk to The Champ de Mars Park,it was so lovely and peaceful right before heading to my next bit stop.
Le Arc De Triomphe.
The beauty...
A symbol to honour those who fought and died for France,,,
Did I tell you how much I'm really not into the history of wars? No? Well now you know.
I know, I know. it's a tasteless thing to be said but I was fascinated by the architect, beauty and magic more that the history of those who died in the war, of course I appreciate the sacrifice of those who are no longer with us but I was kinda not having it listening to the history session of the guide I decided to follow, so it's a free flow from now on...
All that trouble talking and thinking vanished once we were on the top of the Arc De Triomphe, like really, are you serious!!
First of all, I didn't know that we can go on the top of it. Second thing, can this city be any more charming and magical than what it appeared to be by every other second?
And that monumental tower! Can we really see it from any where in this city???
I was falling in love with this city and I had been walking there only for couple of hours.
The sun was getting a little harsh for me to continue walking so now It's either a visit to Notre Dame or the Louvre. The Musée du Louvre was a bit closer and I (ignorantly) thought that 1 hour there would be enough. Did I tell you how wrong was I????
First thing first let me tell you about the museum ...
I Literally didn't know anything about it except that the Mona Lisa was there and there were some Ancient Egyptian pieces. Lets' ignore my reaction and start from the very beginning.
First thing where is the museum? How to enter it? And what is that glass pyramid?
I though that the pyramid was some kind of a theatrical, cinema like place for some small, historical movies like in the Bibliotheca Alexandrina or that it was made as a show case for the famous Mona Lisa painting. There was a small palace and I had no idea where was the museum but it should have been there somewhere (Hope you are not surprised by now).
Starting again from the beginning, first thing how to get in?(which by now I lost counting of how many times I said 'first' and 'beginning')
The famous glass pyramid is the entrance to the underground. Moving forward the palace is an area of 72,735 square meters and has about 70 thousand pieces of art. Cool! That was the museum by the way.
I stayed true to my promise to have a free tour there by myself but I started doubting that 1 hour thing, but I was there anyway so I decided to let my heart enjoy the art, worrying about time was not welcomed so I progressed.
Petite Galeries.
(Sections of the first floor)
I decided to see those first. They were fine, I enjoyed most of them. There were some Greek pieces which I was fascinated about (spoiler alert, it was too soon to be fascinated). There was a statue of Venus and Cupid and I was shocked that I didn’t know that Cupid was the son of Venus the goddess of love! even-though I'm into Greek Gods.
The art pieces there were so nice, they needed a special eye and love to them to be able to be understood and appreciated. They talked about the history of art in a time there in France and how women started to have their deserved recognition.
“He is the king… He’s playing the difficult game of being a leader of men”
“He is the king. He has to set an example”
These two sentences were written on the stairs leading to the another part of the first floor they called that part ‘The Power Play’. I liked the idea.
I thought I’d be too early to be surprised by my lack of knowledge, I’m not talking about the history of France which even after this gallery I still have no information about (or so I thought), I’m talking about my ultimate surprise of knowing that France is a Christian country !!! Even though I know that Napoleon Bonaparte was the leader of French campaign and it was Christian and I know that most of Europe countries are Christian,,,, just don’t ask how I didn’t connect the dots. Anyway,, I didn’t enjoy the war history that much but it was a nice experience.
OK, all that was nothing compared to what was waiting for me...
Going into the main part of the museum was so overwhelming, painting were everywhere, beside and over each other on the walls, some masterpieces were displayed in the middle.
So many Christian paintings of The Virgin and The Child with Angels and so many kings paintings which their beauty can't be described with words. The Greek and Roman antiquities and statues were what took my heart but what stole my soul were the ceilings and the small and huge architecture details of the palace. If I had another past lives I'm sure that I lived once in one of the Old Roman eras and another time when the Christian culture was at its' full glory.
By that time I started to feel a bit tired. There were chairs and places to sit everywhere which kinda was weird (by that time I really didn't know how much time has passed or that my journey into this magnificent place was getting just started).
After what felt like forever, a sign with the name 'Mona Lisa' on it, along with an arrow to its direction appeared out of no where. It was in a room on its' own and it was very crowded, I really dunno why?! Do I have to say that to me it was too overrated? Well,, my heart was somewhere else anyway so the famous painting was the second less thing I was impressed with, right after those Petite Galleries I saw in the very beginning which at this point I've completely forgotten I've even entered them.
This marks the first part for the museum for me. I was so tired so I rested for a while and I didn't expect anything more at this point. I was basically lost so I decided not to stress about entering every single room and let my feet take me where they gravitated to.
Let me sum up the next half of my journey in there for you in some short lines because the limited amount of words in the world can never describe what was there.
The Egyptian Antiquities section made me (for the first time in history) so proud of me being Egyptian (that was a hot second, don't hold my words against me, please).
It was amazing, the pieces, the colors and how they were displaying it. Over all this place holds things from outside of this world! They sanctified the afterlife and blessed us, the living.
But it was kinda funny to find the walls of a castle in the museum, for a second there I'v even forgotten that I was in a Palace. I can't believe the amount of things those campaigns stole at that time there were in another countries and how did they do that with the ginormous pieces. Above all of that, How did they get them inside the palace? What kind of foundations are holding all of these without falling?
While I was wondering how big this place a sign declared that ahead of me were some rooms and objects belonged to Louis the 14th and the 16th which were marvelous until that word had an new meaning with Napoleon Apartments.
OK,,,, along with my astonishment, I was internally crying wishing to once have been even a maid in one of these places. The pieces, the art, the chandeliers, the furniture, the floors, the colors of the walls , the ceilings, those had made me looking up though my entire time in the palace and the small details.
Right when I thought I couldn't take anything anymore, I went back to where I left my soul.
I felt like I was in the garden from the Hercules movie from Disney. Giant statues, stairs, Greek gods and light. My heart was flying around until it hit the ceiling of the palace as this exquisite garden was another room.
OK now I'm speechless. After enjoying myself, unleashing my soul and resting for a solid 15 minutes to find that I spent over 4 hours in this magical place, which I didn't want to leave and I was extremely hungry. So sorry Notre Dame. Latin Quarter, here I come.
There were so many people, young people, due to the existence of colleges and schools somewhere near, it was so busy. Coffees, restaurants, so many colors and some more people. I had the best meal in my life.
At this point my day wasn't finished yet I had one more stop.
Sainte-Chapelle.
The amount of taxi rides I took in just one day was more that what I could probably take in my entire life but I couldn't help it, I wanted to explore so many places and save as much time as possible, maybe that would change the second day.
Now, tell me already that, this church is the most beautiful work of art you could ever lay your eyes on. There I thought that the Louvre had all the share of art for the whole Paris.
My heart was all over the place and so were my eyes. The details, the ceilings and the colors. What's with this city and the ceilings? It had me looking up from the very first moment I set my foot on it's streets.
Only after the church visit I could say that Day came to its end. I wished there could be more hours in it but my energy level was hitting the ground and what really made me in much pain that I had to change the hotel I was staying in to a closer one to the tower. I knew that all the pain could be erased by the morning with a beautiful view and an amazing breakfast so meet you in the second day.
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