My third and last day of the magical trip to the city of love. I woke up so early in the morning filled with so much excitement, a bitter happiness and a very loaded day with places to explore, art to see and appreciate along with experiences waiting for me to live it.
I considered having my breakfast somewhere outside today but the room I was in would go to waste if I didn't enjoy every corner of it. Telling you the truth, the breakfast menu there was irresistible.
You know what else was a waste not to try? The bathtub. If I had chosen anything perfectly, it was that hotel room. And what better way to spoil myself more than a bubble bath with those marvelous bath bombs I bought the other day.I wanted to hold onto them till I was back home but I can never have that view from my bath window at home, so I had to put one of then to a better use.
Well fed, so refreshed and ready for an adventurous day.
If I told you that I was looking forward to the next place the most or maybe the second most, you wouldn't believe it,, probably because I was looking forward to everywhere I visited on this trip.
Arriving at MONTMARTRE SACRÉ-CŒUR BASILICA was a trip on it's own (try saying the church's name 5 times in a row, that sounds like fun,hehehehe).
I thought about taking the metro again but that was nearly an hour trip. Well, compared to it's half with a car. I hopped into a taxi.
The highest point in Paris or that's what they said. It looked like a nice hiking trip in pictures, not knowing that there was an art in making the stairs so long for a relatively not so long vertical distance on the side. But they surely know how to make me out of breath. I dunno why at that specific day that beautiful direct way up was closed so it took longer than it would normally take in energy and time, but that didn't anything from the beautiful view from up there or the accomplished feeling that I've felt for reaching the summit.
Let me tell you, it was AMAZING from the very bottom to the top. first of all before reaching the church there was a small play ground which I made me 10 again wanting to play, (I was fine by taking pictures only but still, I really wanted to play). the flea market behind the church was awesome and lively. Back to my journey to the top, going up, I thought to myself, 'those stairs surely had seen some better days' but I enjoyed the greenery which was surrounding me, reaching the top the view from up there epic. I could really see so much of Paris from there. There was that question in the back of my head that I kept asking anywhere I went 'can the Eiffel Tower be seen from the whole Paris?" but at that moment I had better things to look at than thinking about that. Inside the church (which I still could hardly say it's name right, sorry.)
Starting from the entrance, do I really have to emphasis on their attention to the small details?! I was blown away by the small stuff and I didn't even step a foot in there but man! Once I was in, my mind didn't exist anymore, I thought it was blown away at the entrance?! I could swear I heard something booming somewhere inside my mind. Talking about the very charming windows or the breath taking ceiling and its' statues or the columns or the high alter (I know, the word was new for me too , specially the literal translation to Arabic but alter means a structure upon which offerings such as sacrifices are made for religious purposes.) or the many other amazing things suddenly became an old fashioned thing by that moment.
The Grand Organ. "One of the biggest and most beautiful in Paris" they said. No one told me that there was a freaking humongous piano at the church! Failing to point out such a detail was unforgivable. I have never dreamt of seeing something like that up close in real life ever before. Waking up from my surprise to be surprised even more by a tour up the 4 Grand Domes, of course making the acquaintance of the 4 Angels Of Passion from up there was nice, along with the 4 different statues by each of the 4 Grand Domes doors too.
To answer my question from earlier, 'Yes' the Eiffel Tower could be seen from all the Grand Domes . Someone pointed at somewhere near it and said that where Arc De Troimphe was, I trusted him but I couldn't see it.
What I also enjoyed was the huge bell tower (it had a name but, it was somehow lost in the many names of the towers), reaching the top was amazing, once you felt like there couldn't be better things to see, some other things appeared . Getting a better look those huge statues which were on the church roof which I didn't know that they existed was very delightful.
The church was the highlight of the day, my next stop was Champs-Élysée, I didn't buy enough things so some damage was needed. That was my set intention but I had a little chat with some tourists there who told me about other places to visit.
I knew that Paris had some museums but not that many, they told me about lots of them. One that they praised it so much was the Grand Palais with its' different architecture style which was apparently was so famous with the tourists but it displayed modern art which I wasn't so keen on. They also mentioned Cimetière du Père Lachaise which was a cemetery, The Grande Pagode de Vincennes which is the largest Buddhist place of worship and other places. Some of their suggestions were interesting so I decided to make a little wiggle in my schedule for the day and have a little free flow, maybe Paris had for me more than what I had in my mind for myself.
What got my interest the most was a museum with Vincent van Gogh artworks, I believe they called it Musée d’Orsay, so I decided to give it a go first.
Needless to say the building was amazing, details and ceilings. This city hadn't fail to astonish me even once or make me run of of words (breath sometimes too).
Anyway let me tell you about what I saw there. The statues as usual was what I enjoyed the most. The 18th-19th century was pretty interesting artwise. Most of the art pieces there weren't my my cup of tea.
Nevertheless, that didn't make my trip there less enjoyable, specially that the museum was attached to a restaurant and by now you know that the way to my heart is through my stomach. Needless to say that this was one of my best meals in my entire life. I was rooting for a glass of Bordeaux red wine but my day was still young so I sadly decided to save it for later.
On my way there to the museum I saw a peaceful square with a beautiful fountain, a palace and something that looked like the Luxor Obelisk, so Egyptian looking. So after the lunch I decided to visit there first, specially that it was so close to the Champs-Élysée.
Arriving there I discovered that this square's name was Place de la Concorde and it was the biggest square in Paris, apart from all the historical background and the French Revolution, the place there was really epic.
There were 2 fountains with so many marine statues in them. One of them was dedicated to the sea, specifically to the Mediterranean and Atlantic. The other one was dedicate to the rivers or that what was said but the mermen and the mermaids statues were legendary. The look alike Obelisk was a real one (stolen?) from Luxor and they were 2 at the entrance of the Egyptian Luxor temple (they said it was gifted, the 2 of them, but why would they gift 2 Obelisks to another country across the sea?! Like, is it really yours to gift? but that's not fight to fight). The Obelisk was so huge and it was placed on a base that showed the way they used to move it to Paris. It was so hard that they had to return (or leave?) the other one to Luxer because it was even bigger and heavier.
The hotel there looked charming too, I was wandering what would the rooms in there looked like. It was a good thing I decided to check here first. The loveliness of this place made me forget about it originally being a place for punishing the nobility for their crimes. Anyway I got 2 more stops in my mind before heading back to the hotel and declaring that my journey here sadly came to an end.
The Champs-Élysée and the bridges, Pont de la Concorde and Pont Alexandre III specially. I have been looking forward to take tons of pictures. But if I started with the Champs-Élysée, it'd be dark before I could get the pictures so I decided walking to the bridges first.
I took so many beautiful pictures, walking on around that area made me so happy, not just because of the pictures but because of the whole trip and how good was the idea of coming here, Seeing all these places and enjoying every detail of every detail. the realization of the end made me have a bitter sweet goodbye moment even though I didn't leave yet.
Every chapter must come to an end to give the opportunity for another chapter to begin. I let myself have an emotional moment then I decided to enjoy the few hours left and go shopping.
Finally we met, The Champs-Élysée, I had been looking forward to walk in you for the past 2 and half days.
Let me tell you something. What has been done couldn't be reversed and even if I could go back in time I'd make the same decisions over and over again. Which means I bought so many things that I had to buy a new suitcase for them, also because I liked the suitcase.
Walking back to the hotel was a the blessing that Paris decided to give me as a goodbye gift.
People these photos aren't Photoshop.
It was the love I needed to see in the city of love. (A kiss under the Eiffel Tower at that time would have been appreciated, being single only at these seconds sucks).
I arrived at the hotel and it took me about an hour to figure out how to sort out everything I owed at that moment to fit them into my suitcases and I had my last night there before going back home the next day and my heart was ready to say "Au revoir ville d'amour, je te promets de te voir bientôt"
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